Samantha E. Forde, Ph.D - US grants

Coevolution - the process by which interacting species undergo reciprocal evolutionary change - is one of the major driving forces underlying the generation and maintenance of biodiversity. Research over the past decade has shown that spatial heterogeneity can influence coevolutionary interactions. However, a complete, mechanistic understanding of the influence of spatial heterogeneity on coevolution is still needed.
The proposed research combines theoretical and empirical approaches to rigorously evaluate how spatial heterogeneity in resource availability and dispersal among habitat patches influence coevolution. It utilizes the bacterium Escherichia coli and the bacteriophage T7, a viral parasitoid of E. coli, as model coevolving organisms. Experiments in which dispersal and resource availability are directly manipulated will be combined with theoretical models that incorporate details of the host-parasitoid interaction to provide both qualitative and quantitative predictions of how dispersal across a heterogeneous landscape influences coevolution. This research provides a crucial middle ground between the relative simplicity of current mathematical models and the complexity of field studies. This research will add to our understanding of the geographic mosaic theory of coevolution and metacommunity theory, which underlie much of the work on habitat fragmentation in conservation biology. This work will also increase our understanding of coevolving microbes, which perform many crucial ecosystem services and which have been vastly understudied. Finally, the research will contribute to our general knowledge of how spatial heterogeneity influences the ecology and evolution of interacting organisms.

Women Evolving Biological Science (WEBS) will be an annual three-day symposium aimed at addressing early career issues related to transitions from early career stages to tenure track positions and leadership roles in academic and research settings. The goal of WEBS is to increase significantly the retention and advancement of women in academia in biological sciences in order to enhance excellence and create greater diversity in academic and scientific leadership.

The intent of focusing on this career stage is to address the attrition of women between the postdoctoral or research faculty arena and the tenure track. As a nation, the U.S. cannot afford to continue to lose highly trained scientific talent. WEBS will address issues of early career transitions in biological sciences, with emphasis on the fields of ecology and evolutionary biology. WEBS will support participants who have earned their doctoral degrees within the past two to eight years and who do not have tenure, in order to address the critical transition period from graduate studies and post-doctoral positions to permanent research and teaching positions. Each WEBS symposium will focus on skills development and on topics participants identify as important to their ability to succeed during the critical transition from graduate school to leadership roles in academic settings.

This effort has support from the Society for the Study of Evolution, the University of Washingtons School of Aquatic and Fishery Science, and the North American Benthological Society. More than 10 professional societies have committed to help advertise the workshops, demonstrating the recognition of the importance of defining strategies to retain and advance the talented pool of doctoral recipients in the biological sciences. This award is supported by an ADVANCE Leadership award. Leadership Awards support the efforts of individuals, small groups, or organizations in developing national and/or discipline-specific leadership in enabling the full participation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers

This project will support efforts to plan, conduct and evaluate outcomes for a three-day symposium, WEBS: Women Evolving Biological Science, aimed at issues related to the transition of women from early career stages to tenure track positions and leadership roles in academic and research settings. WEBS targets early career women in the Biological Sciences with a focus on women who have earned their doctoral degrees within the past two to eight years and who do not have tenure. WEBS participants will be current post-docs, research scientists and assistant professors who face the critical transition period from graduate studies to permanent research and teaching positions. WEBS includes a component of research and evaluation that addresses what challenges early career women in biological sciences face, how these can be addressed, and how can effective professional development experience be delivered to early career women in the biological sciences in order to improve attrition at this stage. This symposium represents a new partnership with the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent), an NSF-funded research center that provides a working environment for fertile interactions among scientists. This partnership with NESCent will create opportunities to foster professional development as well as research collaborations among both junior and senior female scientists in the disciplines of ecology and evolution.

The overall goal of WEBS is to significantly increase the retention and promotion of women, including women from underrepresented groups, in the biological sciences to create greater diversity in academic and scientific leadership. Retention of women is critical for fostering diversity and innovation in research and teaching institutions. Equal representation of women in leadership roles in academic settings will positively influence all aspects of the university community. This symposium targets future leaders and equips them with the information and resources needed to successfully navigate the tenure track and have thriving careers and personal lives.

Jack-of-all-trades or master of one? Viruses show tremendous diversity in their ability to infect different types of organisms including animals, plants and bacteria. Some viruses are able to infect multiple host species while others can only infect one. A major unresolved problem facing both the scientific community and medical professionals is why do some viruses evolve to be specialists while others are generalists? To answer this question, it is vital to understand the complexities underpinning the interactions between hosts and their viruses. As viruses and their hosts co-evolve, hosts develop resistance, and viruses in turn find ways of overcoming host defenses. Whether the virus can successfully co-evolve with its host also depends on the structure of the environment and how the viruses are transmitted between hosts. This research will embrace the complexity of virus and host interactions - from genes to cells to populations to the community. A laboratory system consisting of a bacteria (Escherichia coli) and its viruses will be used to gain understanding of the evolution of naturally occurring viruses and their hosts. The experiments will be combined with an innovative mathematical modeling framework designed to bridge the gap between laboratory and nature. The results of this work will provide critical insights into what dictates the diversity of viral strategies - a key step towards a comprehensive theory of the ecology and evolution of infectious diseases. This will further a general understanding of the dynamics of disease in natural systems and help to improve public health initiatives. The project will strengthen collaborations between US and UK scientists and train undergraduate and graduate students in research.